Walk through the doors of In Other Words Books on North Killingsworth or Black Rose Collective on N Mississippi and you'll get a taste of some of Portland's sweetest DIY—the independent zine.
Although independently published zines are made and distributed throughout the country, Zine Manager for In Other Words Books Rebecca Luxembourg points out that Portland is the home of the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) and the former home to DIY-supportive independent press, Microcosm Publishing (which recently relocated from North Portland to Bloomington, Indiana but maintain a presence in Portland through In Other Words Books).
A non-profit feminist bookstore, In Other Words stocks a large selection of indy zines on consignment—the only requirements are that the content be in accordance with the store's purpose. "With zines we're pretty flexible. We look through them to be sure that their content fits our core values...is it not sexist? Is it written by a woman or woman positive?" explains Luxembourg.
Another spot to find an extensive collection of these DIY treasures is at the IPRC's zine library located downtown near Powell books on Southwest 9th and Oak. The selection of zines housed at the IPRC is pretty varied with everything from those that come in boxes, to small accordion style media to the glossy and black and white pamphlet styles covering topics ranging from the very personal to political and comical.
IPRC Outreach Coordinator and zine maven Nicole Georges is spending her summer running zine camp for youth and teaching the next generation how to self-publish. Georges, a successful zinester and NoPo resident who has been creating and publishing her own content for 13 years is about to have the second printing of the anthology of her popular DIY zine, Invincible Summer, released by Microcosm Publishing as well as a second volume of the anthology readied for release this winter.
"When I started zines I was 13 and living in Kansas. I found out about them through punk and ska internet chat rooms. I didn't have an IPRC. I had to learn everything by trial and error," says Georges.
Ten year-old Kallisti Kenali-Lundberg (who discovered her passion for self-publishing through the Zine Camp that Georges teaches) decided to make her zine with other kids in mind. "Mine is called PDX Kids Survival Guide and it lists all the great places for kids to go in Portland. I just discovered SCRAP the other day and I was surprised I never knew it was there. So I thought that I would make a zine for kids that were maybe new to town or didn't know what fun things there are to do," says North Portland resident Kenali-Lundberg.
The IPRC will host its 9th annual Zine Symposium July 24th, 25th and 26th at Portland State University's Smith Memorial Ballroom. In the weeks prior to the symposium the IPRC is always humming with activity as zinesters ready their best for the show.
IPRC staff member and 10-year veteran zinester, author/publisher of Brainscan Alex Wrekk (who helps plan the event) says writing and reading zines can be a great way to make friends. "I was living in Utah and stumbled upon zines...and I started writing to a bunch of people who did zines as sort of an outlet for being non-mormon and living in Utah. It was a way for me to reach out to people and that's the thing that's really stuck with me—the community aspect of it," says Wrekk whose sister Webly Bowls also self-publishes a zine called Touched by an Anvil.
The IPRC provides workshops, workspace, tools, materials, outreach and advice to both members and non-members who are interested in self-publishing whether it's a zine, a rant, a book, flyers or whatever. Says Georges, who was shopping a graphic novel to New York agents when this article was written, "You don't need to wait for someone else to tell you that you're an artist or a writer and don't wait for anyone else to write down your history. Your story is important."
The Portland Zine Symposium is looking for artists! Check out their call for art below and whip up something stellar before the February 25th deadline! Then don't miss the zine symposium this July...we'll keep you posted!
Art Call: 2009 Portland Zine Symposium Design
Portland Zine Symposium Friends,
PZS is looking for art submissions for the 2009 poster. These year's themes are cats, 9 lives, and "Hang in there!" Your art submission should touch upon one or all of these themes.
The guidelines are simple - We are looking for a 11" wide x 17" tall poster that will also be used in other formats (the web, post cards, buttons, stickers, etc), so your design needs to be visible and striking at multiple sizes and resolutions (or have smaller, breakaway pieces). The design will eventually be silk screened / screen printed onto t-shirts, so limit your colors to black, white and one other color. We encourage artists to use any medium or style. We strongly prefer that the choosen artist is able to assist us in the process of transferring (resizing / cropping / etc) the image multiple mediums.
Your design should include:
- the theme(s)
- the dates: July 24th, 25th, 26th (AWAITING CONFIRMATION from PSU)
- the place (Portland State University Smith Memorial Ballroom)
- the website (www.pdxzines.com)
- "9th Annual Portland Zine Symposium"
- "A conference and zine social exploring facets of underground publishing and DIY culture."
Submission deadline is February 25th. Submissions can be emailed to pdxzines@gmail.com, mailed (to PO Box 5901 Portland, OR 97228-5901), or dropped off at the IPRC.
Great piece on alot of Portland ethos coming together. In a lot of ways self published zines are very indicative of a lot things Portlander's hold near and dear. Congratulations to the IPRC for playing a large role in this.
I just thought I would say "a lot" one more time :)